Time flies, especially when you’re on the Race. It’s already September! My sister literally had her baby a few hours before this blog post! Her and my brother are also weeks away from their birthdays. We’ve already been in Thailand for 12 days. I’m scared that I’ll blink and then I’ll be back in the States.
Closing out Nepal..
By the Numbers
Number of days in Nepal: 31
Average walk time to get to the bus stop: 30 minutes
Number of days of hiking: 10
Average length of a typical hike: 4-5 hours
Exchange rate of Nepalese Rupees to USD: 88
Number of times we had chai/tea: Every day, 3 times a day (something I already miss)
Average price for a public bus: 17 Rupees ~ 20¢
Average price for a taxi: 400 Rupees ~ $4.50
Average elevation where we stayed: 4,430 ft
Number of hot showers: 1
Number of Nepalese church services we attended: 4
Number of leper colonies we visited: 2
Price of my knockoff North Face shorts (which I love): 450 rupees ~ $5
Average price of a mocha latte: 150 rupees ~ $1.70
Number of sick days: 0!
Number of days we painted: 3
Thoughts by Words
Nepal is a beautiful, beautiful country. Our aspect of Nepal allowed us to explore the hills and the people of the Himalayas. Because of Hinduism, there’s so much confusion and disorder and chaos in the lives of the Nepali people. I prayed a lot for the God of order and peace to reveal Himself and speak alignment back into circumstances and situations of disarray.
I think I said this before, but ministry resembled American tract evangelism, which was certainly a challenge as I’m not one to do that in the States. It brought to light so much weakness in my life. But I saw how the Lord was faithful, that when I lacked compassion in the month previous I witnessed so much compassion in my heart throughout Nepal. Our host family really did become family. We adored their little boys and loved them so much. We found such joy in our translator who, rather, became a friend who translated. Even in our small meetings with the Nepalese people we interacted with while handing out tracts. Our hearts just burned for them to be brought to a place of knowing and understanding of the one true God.
Thailand
What a place! The people, the food, the scenery.. incredible.
We had a debrief with our entire squad for a few days at YWAM in Bangkok where we gathered together for just rest and worship together. It was most certainly a needed time to just catch our breath. One of the most amazing things thus far has been the food markets. Think of a food court, then populate it so there’s no empty tables, then put it outdoors, then put one every five blocks or so. Incredible. The food has been some of the most various and tasty we’ve seen. Yum!
Both fortunately and unfortunately, not one of our teams is working with any human trafficking ministry this month. It’s certainly a let down in the fact that most of us signed up for the Race and this particular route because Thailand almost always promises that kind of ministry. But the Lord absolutely knows best and I’m beginning to agree, along with the rest of my team, that I, and they, certainly wouldn’t have been prepared for that kind of ministry.
Instead our team is working at a ministry called Sila Home in the Chiang Mai province. It’s an orphanage that houses almost 30 children who either have no parents or come from very broken families. Most of the day we spend doing whatever manual labor the pastor has us to do while the kids are at school and then we have a good chunk of time in the evening to just hang out with them.
I’ll leave it at that. I’ll write again soon. Better to write too much than not enough, right?
